Feature on Isaac Healy – [KAINE – BASS]

Today’s feature is Kaine bassist Isaac Healy, the last person to join the new line-up as the four members finally came together in May 2018. Isaac jumped in right away with the band gigging the A Crisis of Faith material while writing and rehearsing for the new album, Reforge The Steel.  

How long have you been playing bass? 

I’ve been playing for around 7 or 8 years 

You are a multi-instrumentalist, you play drums, what made you switch to bass as your main instrument and what other instruments can you play? 

I switched to bass as my main instrument mainly out of convenience of being able to practice easier and at any time. 

I actually started out learning classical guitar at primary school and started learning the drums shortly after. Over the years, I never really practiced the guitar as much as I should have but have recently been re-teaching myself.

You have several basses in your collection, what do you own and what are your current set ups? 

Listing all 17 would take a while so my top 5 in no particular order are: 

• Atelier Z M265+ custom (the white 5 string jazz bass that I play at most gigs) 
• Atelier Z Beta 6/32 (Red 6 string jazz bass that I played at my first Kaine gig and sporadically since) 
• ESP PPJ (’84 signature bass of Masayoshi Yamashita from Loudness) 
• 1970s Ovation Magnum 1 
• 2010 Fender Mexican Jazz (my first “real” bass. It was originally black but I had it re-finished in yellow. I promise it isn’t as nasty as it sounds) 

What amps and pedals are you currently using? 

I use 3 main amps depending on situation but will mostly have 2 with me. The first is the Trace Elliot ELF which lives in my gig bag as a backup amp or as the main amp if a normal amp is impractical logistics wise. Second is an Ashdown CTM 100 tube amp. My third and most recent amp is an ENGL Ironbass amp which is the most powerful amp I own by far at 800w. 

My pedal board is too large, and I plan on downsizing by getting rid of the multi effect that takes up 1/2 of my board. 

My pedals are actually mostly really boring. Line 6 G30 wireless, Boss TU-3 tuner, AMT bass wah, Electro Harmonix Bass Preacher compressor, Ashdown Nate Mendel NM2 dual overdrive. 

Who are your biggest influences as a bass player?  

Probably Billy Sheehan (Mr Big, etc.), Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath), Rocco Prestia (Tower of Power) and Bohte Daisuke (Kari Band). 

What were your musical endeavours before Kaine? 

I had only really been in one gigging band before Kaine which was called Cannon. I was in another band in secondary school, but we never did any real gigs. 

You played with Toby in a band called Cannon, how long have you known and played with Toby, what did you release and what venues did you play with that band? 

I’ve known Toby for about 5 years as we were on the same music course and we actually met in Cannon which somebody else on our course put together. In Cannon we played a few venues that you would maybe heard of if you’re from Essex such as Chinnery’s in Southend, the Asylum and Three Wise Monkeys.

Toby recommended you to Kaine to join the band, how was it to be in a new band and gigging so quickly? 

I hadn’t actually heard of Kaine until Toby asked if I wanted to join. At the time Cannon was winding down due to constant lineup changes so it was good to be in a band that already had gigs on the books. 

How did you find adapting the A Crisis of Faith songs to your style?  

As I had learnt most of the songs by ear, something that I am definitely not the best at, and the fact that I didn’t already know the songs meant that I was sort of just winging it for most of the parts that were very Stevo. Most of which I just omitted or changed. (nothing against Stevo, I think he’s a much more melodic player than I and we have pretty different styles). 

You put together the Reforge The Steel album very quickly, how was the process of rehearsing and recording that album for you?  

The recording of that album was pretty easy for me, I managed to do all of my tracking in about half a day. 

You also recently tracked your parts for The Waystone EP, how did you find that? 

I found that The Waystone songs were quite a bit different to the Reforge tracks, especially the title track The Waystone. That track was much unlike the other tracks we had done, mainly due to how it was almost prog like in structure when compared to the rest of the material.

You played both the 10-year show with Kaine at Colchester Arts Centre, and Burr Fest at The Dome recently, what was it like doing those big gigs with the band? 

Doing these two gigs was a great experience and not just because they were in the minority of gigs where I could hear what I was playing. These two gigs were two of the biggest crowds I have played for and two of the most engaged crowds to boot. That just made it even more fun to play in front of them. 

Your currently writing material for a new Kaine album, how would you describe the new material so far and the process? 

So far, this album seems to be shaping up to be quite a bit different to the previous albums sound wise. The process so far has mainly been just jamming a riff or two and seeing how it evolves. 

How are you managing your time during the lock down?  

Either practicing bass or just playing video games. 

Favourite World War 2 Tank? 

Fielded: A27M “Cromwell” Prototype: A39 “Tortoise” 

You are also releasing a new live album coming up, which was recorded at the B2 Norwich, are you looking forward to putting out a live version of the Reforge The Steel album?  

Yes.  

Finally, what is your thought of the day? 

Can animals have the equivalent of an accent? 

You can hear Isaac’s contributions to Kaine on Reforge The Steel by clicking here – there are still a number of CD’s available to order through Bandcamp. Isaac also performed at Kaine X which can be ordered both on CD and DVD by clicking here as well as the forthcoming Waystone EP which can be preordered here.